It’s been a while since I’ve done any proper demonstrating so things may well have changed, but I think this was one was rather different than your usual protest march.

For a start there wasn’t as much shouting as I’m used to (no “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie – Out Out Out”, as one of my friends put it), second organisers don’t normally give out bottles of water and chocolate biscuits as far as I recall, and finally it was really nice to be in a demo without a single SWP poster.

I return home to a message from the Burma Campaign who have received the following from someone in Rangoon:

Everyone is so afraid. People are scared to go out into the streets, most shops are shut. The world must know what is going on, we need international pressure. If the pressure continues the regime can¹t survive. Maybe a few months, but it can¹t survive if the pressure continues.

The email says that yesterday that Gordon Brown rang the campaign to pledge to push for sanctions through the EU. So if you haven’t taken the opportunity to email the EU Presidency now would be a good time to do it.